(First, I want to start off by saying how sorry I am for taking so long with this chapter. Busy work schedules, long periods of writer's block combined with my creativity leading me other ways (mainly my own manga); I just couldn't get around to writing this story very much. Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait.)
CHAPTER 20: TANI MISSION AFTERMATH
Sakura's eyes fluttered open and immediately spotted a ceiling she didn't recognize at first. As more of her brain woke up, however, she quickly realized that she was staring up at the ceiling of a tent.
How did I get here, she began to ponder. She remembered teetering then seeing the ground coming to meet her, only to land in a pair of strong-but-gentle arms and hearing Temari's voice saying, "Take a breather, you two. Me and my brothers will clean up the rest," before being lowered to the ground next to Naruto.
Oh my god! Naruto! Where's Naruto! The pinkette began to panic upon remembering the weakened condition her teammate was in last time she saw him. That panic quickly faded, however, as she then finally noticed the presence right next to her. She turned her head to see that she was lying beside Naruto who still hadn't regained consciousness.
Okay, Naruto's still here, Sakura thought, but where is this? Who does this tent belong to? Her thoughts were interrupted by a zipping sound. She lifted her head ever so slightly to see that the front of the tent had been opened and that somebody was leaning their head inside.
"How are you feeling, Sakura?" Kakashi asked from where he leaned inward from outside. The pinkette uttered a weak, "uh-" and tried to shift her body into a sitting position. The lack of strength in her arms proved it impossible to do, however.
"I figured you'd still be in a weakened state," the one-eyed Jonin discussed, "You'll have to be carried back to Konoha and examined at the hospital to make sure you guys are really okay."
"You're gonna carry us both?" Sakura was confused at the fact Kakashi would do something so awkward.
"Actually, Rin will be helping out with that," Kakashi clarified.
"Rin?" the pinkette asked. She wasn't familiar with that name and therefore knew she was missing something, leading Kakashi to do a facepalm.
"Right, you haven't had the chance to really meet her, yet," Kakashi remembered.
"Meet who?" Naruto sleepily chimed in.
"Good, now that both of you are awake, I can explain what's going on," Kakashi stated. He went on to tell of how the Tani-ANBU who checked them into the tournament was actually an old teammate of his named Rin and of what transpired at the arena during Naruto's battle with Sasuke. The last detail he covered was Rin wanting to start a new life and returning to Konoha to do so. Both Naruto and Sakura agreed to their sensei's cause after hearing all the details.
About an hour later, the tents were packed and everyone was prepared to continue on toward Konoha. Kakashi ran at a steady pace with Naruto hoisted on his back while Rin did the same with Sakura.
(Outside of Konoha; 2 days later)
Kakashi could see the gates of Konoha approaching. The sudden eagerness made him want to speed up, but he had to make sure Rin was still able to keep up with Sakura hoisted on her back. They kept going for several more long strides and finally came to a stop right at the front gate where they were greeted by a Chunnin who was on guard.
"Please state your name and your business here," the Chunnin instructed.
"Hatake Kakashi, Jonin-ranked shinobi of Konoha," the one-eyed Jonin responded, "I am here with Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Nohara Rin. We are returning from a mission in Tani." The Chunnin looked at Naruto, then towards Sakura, before giving a slight nod.
"Those two don't look too good," the Chunnin suggested, "Get them to the hospital first before you report to the Hokage." Kakashi nodded his acknowledgement and he took off toward the hospital with Rin just a step or two behind him.
(Hokage's Office; 1 hour later)
Tsunade popped her knuckles after setting another stack of completed paperwork off to the side. She had just picked up her stamp once more and just about to reach for the next stack of paperwork when a knock sounded from her office door.
"It's open," was her response. As usual, she was being professional on the outside but her heart was nearly jumping with joy, anticipating seeing her "godson" back home safe and sound. She saw Kakashi walk in but saw no Naruto or Sakura. Instead, he was accompanied by a woman she didn't recognize. She was especially puzzled by the Tani forehead protector the woman wore.
"Care to explain what's going on, Kakashi?" the Godaime asked. Kakashi cleared his throat and began his recollection of the mission. He covered the trip to Tani and spending the night before the tournament, the surprise attack by Hidden Sound ninja, and the revelation that Tani formed an alliance with the Hidden Sound Village. As Tsunade eyed the woman standing with Kakashi suspiciously, the one-eyed Jonin explained the brief battle between them and how the woman regained her original memories from before what happened to her 20 years ago. Hearing the details of all the experiments and procedures performed on the woman named Rin as a teenager and how they seemed more like a means of torture, Tsunade now looked upon her, not with suspiscion this time, but with sympathy. Even so, she still had a job to do and a protocal to follow.
"I'm very sorry for what happened to you, Rin," the Hokage lamented, "Personally, I'd love to officially welcome you back to Konoha, but I have procedures and a protocal to follow." She leaned forward in her chair.
"Until I feel you can be trusted, I must require that you stay under supervision of someone I can trust," Tsunade continue, "Given the circumstances, I believe that Kakashi is perfect for the job."
"Thank you so much, Lady Hokage," Rin replied with a very grateful bow. Tsunade then rose from her chair and ushered them out to the hallway.
"I'm counting on you to do your newly-assigned job, Kakashi," said the busty Sennin, "Please excuse me, I must head for the hospital."
"If you don't mind, Lady Hokage," Kakashi suddenly chimed in, "I will inform Hyuuga Hinata so Felicia can see Naruto."
"By all means, Kakashi," Tsunade accepted, "She deserves to see Naruto back home." Kakashi promptly nodded his acknowledgement.
With that, she turned and walked down toward the hospital, sparing a glance back to see Kakashi and Rin heading in the opposite direction toward the Hyuuga complex and holding hands.
(Konoha Hospital, Sakura's room; 10 minutes later)
Tsunade watched the pinkette's sleeping form from where she stood at the door. From what she gathered from the doctors, Sakura wasn't injured in any way but was suffering from Chakra Exhaustion. With a quick series of hand seals, Tsunade gathered a steady stream of Chakra in her hand and hovered it over her chest. The blue energy snaked from her palm and spread through the Pinkette's body.
After a few minutes of this, the Godaime stopped the procedure. Sakura began to stir and eventually opened her eyes.
"Tsunade-sama!" the pink-haired Genin couldn't hide her surprise of seeing her mentor upon waking up again.
"Stay calm, Sakura," the Fifth Hokage soothed as she caressed her student's forehead, "All I need from you is a quick verbal report, then you should let your body rest." Sakura nodded her acknowledgement and Tsunade pulled out a notepad and pencil. The Godaime listened closely as the Pinkette spoke of her entering the tournament, her fight with a red-haired Kunoichi, the sudden attack that pitted her against multiple Sound-nin and Tani-nin, her witnessing of Naruto being struck down by Sasuke, and finally her prolonged attempt to keep her blonde-haired teammate alive befor blacking out at his side. Tsunade nodded thoughtfully when Sakura finished her story. She then neared her student's bedside and caressed her head once more.
"I don't blame you, Sakura, doing what you did for Naruto's sake," she said softly. Her demeanor suddenly turned dark and threatening as she lifted the Pinkette's head to where their faces were bearly and inch from each other.
"But make no mistake, it was also very reckless," she lectured with an angry-sounding tone, "As a Medical Ninja, you are preserve your life. You're not of any use to anyone if you're killed!" Sakura could only stare back at her mentor with fright. Tsunade's been tough on her before, but this was something completely different.
Tsunade's face finally softened and she gently lowered Sakura's head to her pillow. Her hand remained where it was, however, as she stroke her forehead with her thumb.
"What if something went wrong and you pushed yourself too far?" Tsunade now had emotion present in her voice as she spoke, "Naruto cares so much for you. How do you think he would feel if you had instead died from healing him?"
"Stop, please! Just stop!" Sakura blurted out. She knew she shouldn't have reacted that way. She knew she was wrong to be so reckless with her Chakra, but she was desperate then. All that mattered at that time was preventing Naruto from dying.
Tsunade was taken aback by the Pinkette's outburst.
She had never acted this way before, she pondered, maybe this was too soon. She watched as Sakura turned her head away, possibly to hide the tears.
"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama," she choked through her tears. Tsunade neared her student's bedside again and caressed her jaw, turning her head back to look her in the eyes.
"I'm not doing this to torture you, Sakura," the Godaime soothed, "I just want you to learn from your mistakes. The harsh reality of our line of work is that death is almost always guaranteed and us Medical Ninja can't save everyone."
Sakura remained silent as she let her mentor's words sink in. She felt the latter's hand move back to caressing her forehead.
"You need more rest, Sakura," Tsunade said softly. She headed for the door and opened it, stopping to look back at the Pinkette before leaving.
"Naruto is going be okay," she assured, "You'll see him in due time." With that, she walked into the hallway and closed Sakura's door behind her. She turned and headed down toward Naruto's room.
(Konoha Hospital, Naruto's room)
As the Fifth Hokage neared the door to Naruto's room, she saw a nurse come out from there with a clipboard and pen in her hands. She approached the nurse before she got too far away.
"How is he?" Tsunade asked loud enough for the nurse to hear. The nurse turned toward as she caught her question and took a quick look through the paper on her clipboard.
"Overall, he's fine," she answered, "He's been asking for you since he woke up." Tsunade voiced her thanks, leading the nurse to nod her acknowledgement and be on her way. Tsunade promptly opened the door to Naruto's hospital room and entered.
"Hi, Baa-chan," Naruto greeted as he looked up from his ramen.
"How you doing, kiddo?" she said with warm smile. She pulled up a chair to Naruto's bedside and seated herself as the blonde Genin slurped some noodles.
"Is Sakura-chan going to be alright?" Naruto asked with a look of worry that made Tsunade lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"She's going to be fine, Naruto," she assured her "godson", "She just needs to rest for now." Naruto seemed to brighten up upon hearing those words.
"Naruto, if you don't you mind," the Godaime requested as she pulled out her notepad and pencil, "I'm gonna need your recollection on what happened over at Tani." Naruto went on to tell of all the fights that occurred in in the tournament before the Sound-Tani attack, his fight against Sasuke, and himself waking up to Sakura healing him before blacking out again.
"Thanks a bunch, kiddo," Tsunade said as the blond Genin wrapped up his story. She rose from her chair and planted a kiss on his forehead.
"I've got a lot of paperwork today," she promised, "But I'll take some time off tomorrow so we can talk more."
"Okay, Baa-chan," Naruto said with an enthusiastic nod. This made a loving grin cross Tsunade's complexion as she turned toward the door to leave. She stopped short as the door opened and three people walked in: Kakashi, Rin and Felicia.
Seeing Naruto awake and sitting up, Felicia's eyes welled up with tears as she rushed to her friend's bedside and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. Naruto rubbed her back and caressed the back of her head as she drew shakey breaths.
"You guys got here fast," Tsunade said to Kakashi, half-kidding.
"Well, I used 'Naruto' and 'hospital' in the same sentence and she flew into a panic," Kakashi explained, "We almost had to chase after her on the way here."
"I didn't realize she was so fast!" Rin chimed in. Tsunade gave a light chuckle.
"Well, with your students out of action, Kakashi, I think you could use a short vacation, yourself," the Godaime said, "That should give you and Rin time to reconnect." Both Kakashi and Rin voiced their thanks as the Hokage exited the room.
Felicia purred as she curled up next to Naruto on the hospital bed, the blond Genin wrapping one arm around her shoulders. Kakashi and Rin stayed a while and talked with Naruto about some of the missions they had when they were his age. Nighttime soon came, leaving Naruto to himself with Felicia who was already asleep. The blond Genin drifted off as well, smiling to the sound of content purring.